Electrical outlet boxes are commonly installed on the exterior walls of buildings to provide outdoor electrical service. To accommodate the outlet box, an appropriately sized hole is made in the wall. Making an appropriately sized hole is typically easy to do in exterior walls that are constructed of wood siding, vinyl siding, stucco, or other materials that can be easily cut. After making a hole in the siding and the substrate, wall studs are typically exposed and offer a convenient support to which a conventional outlet box can be secured with mounting fasteners such as nails or screws.
Difficulties arise when trying to install a conventional outlet box on a brick wall. As a result of the substantial thickness of brick walls, a conventional outlet box inserted in an opening in the brick wall typically does not extend beyond the back surface of the bricks. The sidewalls of the conventional electrical box, which typically include the mounting fasteners, are therefore not exposed to the walls studs and cannot be secured in the conventional manner.
As wall studs are not an option for the installation of electrical boxes in brick walls, conventional outlet boxes are typically secured within the brick wall by installing mortar between the sidewalls of the box and the surrounding brick. One problem that arises when securing a conventional outlet box in this manner is that the installation is not aesthetically pleasing. After the installation is complete, the mortar is typically visible around the periphery of the conventional outlet box, thereby detracting from the attractiveness of the installed box.
A further problem arises as the result of the smooth outer sidewalls of the conventional outlet box as there is no structure on the outer surface of the sidewalls for holding the outlet box fast within the mortar.
Another problem arises with conventional flanged outlet boxes. A flange typically extends around the outer periphery of the sidewall at the front edge of the outlet box. Unfortunately the flange interferes with the mortaring operation and makes it difficult to mortar around the box. Additionally, the flange can easily be contaminated with mortar, which, once dried, cannot be easily removed from the flange and therefore detracting from the attractiveness of the conventional outlet box.
What is needed therefore is an electrical box that can be easily installed in an exterior brick wall, is adapted to provide solid anchoring in the wall, eliminates the possibility of mortar contamination on the exterior of the box, and provides an aesthetically pleasing exterior electrical box.